Tangents and Vectors

An Idea Borrowed

Years ago on a radio program someone shared that they read a chapter in Proverbs every day. Since there are 31 chapters and the longest month has 31 days it allows you to read through Proverbs on a regular basis. I use it as the launch pad for my personal worship time and branch out from there. On this blog I will try to share some of the insights I have in the Word. I will try to organize them in the archive by reference.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Eternal Editor

We are to “commit” (1556) all that we do to the Lord. We should be careful not to make this some kind of ethereal sentiment. This is not fulfilled by sitting in a circle and singing, “I have decided to follow Jesus,...” It is not the idea a being at the roulette wheel and putting it all on number 7. This is a word that seems to have the idea of getting into motion. This is not just an intellectual commitment but a an active commitment. It means to roll. It means to pick a direction and start on it.

Picture being in a news room. Your copy is due at a certain time. You write it up. It is the best you can do. At some point you must forward it to the editor. You “commit” your copy. I like the idea of an editor. If you are doing your work properly there will be no major revisions but usually there will be at least typographical or grammatical corrections to make. You might be told to delete a paragraph or asked for more in an area. Our “works” (4639) are to be placed at His disposal.

Assuming we have been seeking the mind of God and reading our Bibles, we should be close to success when we submit to the Eternal Editor. He takes our “thoughts” (plans NASB) (4284) when they are made under the authority of His will. He then modifies them. He fine tunes them in ways we cannot understand.

When our future is laid out according to His will, it is “established” (3559) or made firm. Since I believe in free will the plans must always be open for amendment. If I am driving from San Diego to Bangor Maine the route given to me on my AAA planner may have to change because of weather or construction, but my destination and purpose remain the same.

So first, do you homework. Read the Bible regularly. Don’t read it like it is a Sunday School contest. Remember those? The one who read the most chapters got a prize. So you read Psalm 117 over and over again. Read slowly and methodically listening to what the Holy Spirit may stir within you. If you get stuck on one verse that day it is better than reading the whole chapter without a flicker.

Then take what you learn and apply it that day. It is not empty knowledge, it is God speaking to you. Listen, learn, live.

5 comments:

We use the same study guides...Bible..Strong's..Vines??.Commentaries are for the most part just an uninspired man's thoughts on the scriptures. It is possible tho to take a piece of fish...eat the meat and pick out the bones.

Thanks for the wedgit. I'll enjoy following you. I may not always comment...but I'll follow.

By the way...our God is a covenant God and that's the way I read His new covenant to the Christian...as covenant.

Please...just one more thing. Since you'll be doing Proverbs 17 next, would you please take a look at what I have to say about a verse in that chapter in a post dated Feb 8th 2010 in a post titled "The Cup of Gethsemane" on my blog.I would value your opinion as to whether you agree or disagree with that post.

Read your post and left a comment. Why are so many bloggers afraid to focus on what the Bible says instead of what their professors say? Could it be that so many of them are professors? I don't know.

I am going to look into this "Follower" thing a bit more. I am leery of a lot of the technology that takes my input out of the loop. I tried out the reader that Blogger offers. Shortly after that I had some massive issues with my e-mail. My son, the geek, worked it out and claims it had nothing to do with the reader, but he used to tell me the problems on my computer were not his fault either. When I tried to remove the reader I found out what others had already discovered: The only way to get rid of it was to delete all your Google accounts.

As I look forward in Proverbs 17 at my initial reactions and notes I see that I was looking at verse 15 as a comment on our courts, theologians and bloggers. We have people of influence who are making a joke of the Biblical idea of justice. There are people who are supposed to be teaching the Bible who come up with all kinds of crazy ways to justify homosexual and heterosexual sin, for instance.

My initial comments had not touched on justification in the sense of our salvation. I guess I have some more thinking to do.

Your post was a powerful reminder of what our justification really cost. I am shamed just thinking about my unworthiness and yet overcome by joy at the same time. "Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe..."

Followers

Bible Text

I prefer the NASB for my study but I will be using the KJV as the text I post. I do this because I do not understand the copyright restrictions. If I ever get a better grasp of the law I may change the text I list. We may be under grace rather than law, but others are not so free. My comments will try to make it clear what the differences are.

Greek and Hebrew

In the comments there will be reference to words and the original languages. Number in parenthesis, (1235), refer to the number from Strong's Numbering system.

An Invitation

The theme of this blog is devotional, worshipful, Biblical. I have a lot of ideas that won't fit in that frame so I have started another blog. It is called Medley of Worship.

You are invited to visit me there. It includes Bible and theology but also politics, education and anything else that comes to my mind.

About Me

I have been a serious follower of Jesus Christ since my senior year in high school. I am a Vietnam Veteran who came home more patriotic than I left. I am a graduate of Nazarene Theological Seminary and an ordained elder although I an not currently serving in a pastoral position. I have what I consider an orthodox faith set in the context of Wesley and Arminius. I share this so you will know where I am coming from as I look at the word.